UPDATE: Court rules for convicted murderer, rapist

The Florida Supreme Court granted Matthew Caylor “habeas relief,” vacating his death sentence as unconstitutional and sending the case back to the trial court for a new penalty phase.

ZACK McDONALD News Herald Reporter @PCNHzack

PANAMA CITY — A man condemned to death for brutally raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl in a Panama City motel room will get a new day in court to argue against capital punishment, according to court records.

Matthew Lee Caylor, 41, had been on death row since his 2009 conviction for the murder of teenager Melinda Hinson. Caylor admitted to raping the girl and strangling her with a telephone cord before hiding her body under the bed in a U.S. 98 motel. A Bay County jury recommended the death penalty by a margin of 8-4; however, recent shakeups in the state’s death penalty procedures prompted the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday to grant a new penalty hearing to determine Caylor’s fate, court records show.

“In this case, the jury’s recommendations of death were not unanimous and the jury made no findings concerning the aggravating and mitigating circumstances,” the court wrote of the decision. “Therefore, we cannot conclude that the error in Caylor’s penalty phase was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, Caylor is entitled to a new penalty phase.”

The court stopped short of leaving Caylor’s case open to the possibility of a retrial by affirming his conviction despite several issues his attorney raised with the trial. A new sentencing now will determine whether Caylor is sentenced to death or life in prison. A date has yet to be scheduled.

According to court records, Caylor confessed to the murder and detailed the events leading up to a housekeeper at the Valu-Lodge Motel finding Hinson’s naked body under the bed. Her parents had reported her missing two days earlier, records show.

Officers reported Caylor was on felony probation from Georgia in July 2008 after he molested a 14-year-old, for which he claimed to be falsely accused.

After he said he came to Panama City to relax, he told investigators Hinson came to his room to ask for a cigarette. Caylor said he felt he had “been through all this because of something I didn’t do,” and he decided to “make it worth it,” according to court transcripts.

Caylor claimed Hinson came on to him when he became angered and he began to choke her, investigators reported.

“It was like, more or less like you’re the ... reason I’m in this situation I’m in now because I did the right thing,” he told investigators. “I think it was more of a hate, like a hate, like I was really angry; I think it was ... that she was 13 coming on to me.”

Caylor said after he strangled Hinson with the phone cord and hid her under the bed, he left the motel, officers reported.

Jurors found him guilty of first-degree murder, sexual battery with serious force and aggravated child abuse.

On appeal, Caylor raised five issues: that his trial counsel “was ineffective for his investigation and presentation of mitigation evidence at the penalty phase;” that his trial counsel “was ineffective for not ensuring that Caylor receive a reasonably competent mental health evaluation for mitigation;” that the “trial court erred in summarily denying Caylor’s claim that counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge” a juror; that the trial court “erred in summarily denying the claim that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to ask any of the jurors about their views on mental health, addiction, remorse, rehabilitation, mercy, experts, or any other potential mitigation;” and “cumulative error.”

The high court wrote that because it found Caylor is entitled to a new penalty phase, they addressed the third issue concerning the juror, listed as “Juror Weaver” and who Caylor argued could not be impartial because of ties to witnesses. However, the court wrote, “we affirm the trial court’s ruling and its denial of Caylor’s post-conviction motion.”

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